About

The Historical Williamsburg Living Narrative

$1,937

pledged of $1,500 goal

85

backers

5/17/12 - FUNDING GOAL HAS BEEN REACHED

With 17 days left to go, our funding goal of $1500 has been reached. Thanks go out to all of our generous backers! Now we'll set a stretch goal of $2000. That's an additional amount of $500 in funding by the deadline. Let's see if we can make it!

Interactive Fiction Meets History: Interactive Fact is Born

What is the Project?

The Historical Williamsburg Living Narrative allows you meet the people and experience the circumstances that lead to the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The setting is Williamsburg, Virginia, in colonial times, and game is pure Interactive Fiction: engaging prose will take your imagination back nearly 250 years into the history of the United States of America--before it was a country.

What is Interactive
Fiction?

In the early days of computer games, Interactive Fiction
(IF) was by far the most mentally challenging type of game to be on the market.
Using nothing but text descriptions, IF placed the player directly into the
story through the use of well-crafted prose and well-developed story lines.
Games were written in a wide variety of fiction genres including Fantasy,
Adventure, Historical, Crime, Science Fiction, and many others. Rather than
placing the focus on game graphics while sacrificing game play, IF allowed the
designers to construct massively sprawling and detailed worlds that the players
visualized in their imaginations. (Before being called Interactive Fiction, games in this genre were classified as text adventure games.)

We have chosen Interactive Fiction as our project platform for
several reasons:

We wanted to replace the static nature of all
the existing textbooks on Williamsburg and provide a truly engaging experience
for the reader.

We had been seeking a relatively easy way to
develop an in-depth experience quickly and inexpensively.

We are hoping our work will be used by schools
and by History instructors in order to provide students with a highly detailed
account of Williamsburg’s role as well as the events leading up to the
Declaration of Independence.

Interactive Fiction is addictive, and what could
be more fun that living some pages out of history, talking to George Washington
or Thomas Jefferson or Patrick Henry?

While we don’t want to fill this description with a lot of
academic information, we do want to point out there is research demonstrating
that Interactive Fiction will engage even reluctant readers. If we can reach
even a few “non-readers” with one of the key stories of the founding of the
United States of America, then the project will have been a tremendous success.

What is the
Development Timeline?

The contribution window for this project is set at 45 days,
and the goal is to raise $1500. During the fundraising period, we will be
gathering documents (to the extent possible) such as maps, primary writings, and environmental
descriptions related to Williamsburg in the 18th century. Doing so
will position us to move forward quickly when the funding period comes to a
close. Additionally development of the navigational foundation of the project
will take place based on the map documentation we are able to obtain.

After the end of the funding period, we anticipate that it
will take 180 days to complete the Historical Williamsburg Living Narrative.
This will include

More research labor and historical documents for a richer game play experience

Additional Interactive Fiction program development (possibly through the efforts of additional programmers)

Extended marketing to advertise to broader audiences, distribution of hard copies to historians and educators, and the development of an e-commerce site for this and future Historical projects

What are the Rewards?

The rewards are listed on the Rewards page; some of the items you could receive include custom books, photographs, maps, and even program code--not to mention an advance copy of the game. See the Rewards page for more details

What Happens Next?

The Historical Williamsburg Living Narrative will be able to stand on its own for many years, but we don't want to sit still. If this is a success, you'll see many more titles in this series of Interactive Fiction and Historical America, including Historical Monticello, Historical St. Augustine, Historical Mount Vernon, Historical Boston, Historical Gettysburg, and a whole lot more!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $25 or more
About $25

A signed 8 x 10 print of a Williamsburg scene photographed by the creator during the mapping process, plus special thanks in the story credits and on the project website (you may add a message to be placed with your name on the website), and an advance copy (beta) of the Interactive Fiction story before it becomes available to the public. (International backers, please contact us regarding additional shipping fees.)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $50 or more
About $50

A map of Williamsburg developed by the project creator, signed 8 x 10 print of a Williamsburg scene photographed by the creator during the mapping process, plus special thanks in the story credits and on the project website (you may add a message to be placed with your name on the website), and an advance copy (beta) of the Interactive Fiction story before it becomes available to the public. (International backers, please contact us regarding additional shipping fees.)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $100 or more
About $100

A numbered limited edition black and white copy of the custom map designed for the project signed by the project creator (for up to the first 10 backers at this level), a signed 8 x 10 print of a Williamsburg scene photographed by the creator during the mapping process, plus special thanks in the story credits and on the project website (you may add a message to be placed with your name on the website), and an advance copy (beta) of the Interactive Fiction story before it becomes available to the public. (International backers, please contact us regarding additional shipping fees.)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $250 or more
About $250

A signed coffee table book of photographs taken by the project creator during the mapping process, a map of Williamsburg developed by the project creator, a signed 8 x 10 print of a Williamsburg scene photographed by the creator during the mapping process, plus special thanks in the story credits and on the project website (you may add a message to be placed with your name on the website), and an advance copy (beta) of the Interactive Fiction story before it becomes available to the public. (International backers, please contact us regarding additional shipping fees.)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $500 or more
About $500

A copy of the program source code for the Interactive Fiction story in printed format signed by the project creator, a signed coffee table book of photographs taken by the project creator during the mapping process, a map of Williamsburg developed by the project creator, a signed 8 x 10 print of a Williamsburg scene photographed by the creator during the mapping process, plus special thanks in the story credits and on the project website (you may add a message to be placed with your name on the website), and an advance copy (beta) of the Interactive Fiction story before it becomes available to the public. (International backers, please contact us regarding additional shipping fees.)